How to Seduce Women.

1. Grow thick, luxurious moustache.

2. Buy hothouse flowers which signify feelings of adoration, constancy and love.

3. Write your name on a card in fine penmanship, add a poem if you feel like danger.

4. Hire a photographer to photograph you in a great room, holding both letter or card and flowers (remember to look your absolute utmost desirable, ie. comb hair, moustache, wear fine clothing).

5. Send photo, flowers and card to the lady you wish to win.

6. Wait for results.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23023719@N04/sets/72157604226714409/

Let's look at fancy clothes!

Favorites from Fashion Week (so far).

Chloé


Collette Dinnigan

Elie Saab (Here's what I'm talking about!  I think Saab was on a  Hitchcock "Blonde Period" binge when he designed some of these. FABulous.)

Zac Posen

All photos from style.com.

Feminism, Ibsen, the 1970s, and Good Child Actors in Film.

What??  Do I really intend to write about all those in the same post? The answer? A hesitant yes. Hesitant because really what I am about to do is ramble, connecting way too many topics. I can't help myself though. They've all been on my mind, and they connect in a long, messy string. So be forewarned.

First stop on the Stream of Margaux's Consciousness Tour:

Kramer Vs. Kramer (1979) Directed and written by Robert Benton, based upon a novel by Avery Corman, this is one of those quintessential '1970s Women's Liberation entering the marriage bed, and leading to a divorce' movies. Of course to explain it like this severely oversimplifies both the things that happened during the time, as well as the characters' motives and the plot of the film. I saw this film a week or two ago, when I just wanted to watch something Good and didn't feel hellbent on a movie that would uplift me, as I usually do (hi, high-class romantic comedy collection and cheesy old movie collection).

The main reason I wanted to see it was because I knew Meryl Streep won her first Oscar for the role, but even though she gives a brilliant performance, my favorite thing about this film was the relationship between the character Dustin Hoffman plays as Ted Kramer, and his son, Billy, played by Justin Henry. When Ted, a big New York businessman comes home yapping about work one night, his wife, Joanna suddenly tells him she is leaving. We see her tuck her son into bed. And she gets in the elevator...and goes. In the morning, Ted tries to act as though everything is fine, and tries to make breakfast for his son, when he is clearly distraught. For a long time, we see Ted struggle with his new responsibility, his anger at his wife, and we observe how he changes into a better father and becomes closer to his son, even to the point that he leaves work when his son is ill, skipping an important meeting, and comes to lose his big job. The father and son fight and struggle, but eventually bond. There is a scene after a big fight when Ted explains why Joanna has left and they apologize to each other, and he is so honest with the little boy. I found it so realistic and so moving. The acting in the film is truly lovely and the relationships are so well-formed and believable.

In terms of feminism, the film is interesting to me because I felt it echoed Ibsen's A Doll's House.  In the play, the heroine, Nora Helmer leaves her husband when she realizes he looks upon her more as a doll to present to the world than as a human being, and loves her as a possession rather than a person.  She believes that she can be of no use to her children, as she has been treated like a child her entire life, and feels she must find her own identity.  Nora slams the door, leaving her husband and children.  Nora and Joanna of Kramer vs. Kramer are nearly the exact same character in terms of their feelings about their married lives, and Ted Kramer  and Torvald Helmer are very much the same in that they supremely value their careers and good names.  The funny thing is that A Doll's House was published in 1879, exactly one century before Kramer vs. Kramer.  In one hundred years, the story is still as relevant, but the film takes off where the Nora-heroine shuts the door, and further examines child custody battles, and the importance of fairness toward the child.

Another film that has nothing to do with Ibsen, feminism, or the 1970s, but does have to do with good child actors: Ma Vie en Rose (1997), a Belgian film directed by Alain Berliner, written by Alain Berliner and Chris Vander Strappen, about a little boy named Ludovic (played by Georges du Fresne), who believes that he was supposed to be born a girl.  What I loved about this film was that it brought things to the child's height.  The audiences sees things from Ludo's eyes, sympathizes with him and remembers what childhood was like.  So many people grow up and seem to forget that children are human beings, just as capable of intelligent thought, just as capable of complex emotions.  Adults are no more perfect or cartoon-like than children, and vice versa.  

Childhood can be very lonely, without being extremely different from the rest of the kids.  Throw in feeling adamantly that you were born the wrong sex, and throw in being a boy who likes to wear dresses and play with dolls, and the loneliness  hugely increases.  Ludo's mother and father become angrier and angrier throughout the film, scolding their seven year old son over his bad behavior, saying how hard he makes life for them.  The neighbors are offended when Ludo dresses as a girl and has a crush on a boy, eventually kicking him out of the local private school, and he is beat up by the members of his soccer team.  To me, the point of this film, is that adults, being older and supposedly wiser, should know better than to treat children (or anyone for that matter) with prejudice and hate, but should try to understand, and realize that humans are not meant to fit some sort of mold from the conservatism of the 1950s. 

This concludes the Margaux's Random Thoughts Party. Free cake in the lobby.*

*Both lobby and cake exist in the imagination, so it can be whatever sort of cake you like.

“People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone.” Audrey Hepburn

Recently re-watched "Two for the Road" and "Charade". I think Audrey Hepburn is like The Beatles in that I enjoy both at every time in their careers, at every time of my life. All right, I am probably in the first third of my life, at least, but still... What I mean is both are absolutely timeless and fabulous and pricelessly unique. What's more, I think Audrey Hepburn had a beautiful outlook on life. I so respect and admire her. Gush gush gush.

Academy Awards Fashion Crushes

I am a religious Oscars-viewer. Since I was a tiny little girl, I have watched the ceremony with my mother every year, aside from a couple years due to my being away at school (meaning I watched alone). My mother watched them with her mother growing up. I never really think about it, but I was raised in a truly, movie-loving family. We know all the actors (whether or not my mom and grandma can accurately say their names, they know who they are) and we have our favorites. We love the glamour, we love the really good films, the really funny films, and so on. We love watching the Oscars and saying who looks beautiful and who is too pretty to be wearing something so gaudy and unflattering. We love the spontaneous funny moments, the emotional speeches. As movie fanatics and lovers of fantasy, watching the Oscars is like peeking your head in on Hollywood's big party. Maybe the ceremony is a bit silly. The idea that you can measure anything at all, even something like how fast you can run, is a bit silly. So saying you can measure someone's art as "best" is pretty ridiculous, everybody knows. And yet, how can you not be drawn in?

ANYWAY, I confess I don't have much to say about this year's ceremony in terms of fashion. I was a little uninspired. A lot of people looked gorgeous (celebrities tend to do that) but nobody really Stood Out to me. I didn't see a dress on that red carpet that made my mouth water. I didn't see an actress in anything that I would've wanted to rip off her back and make my own. My darling Kate was lovely. Anne Hathaway was lovely. Penelope Cruz was lovely. Natalie Portman was (though a little too pink for my taste) lovely. Angelina was lovely. Yeah yeah...but nobody Sang to my soul. What can I say? I'm weird. I'm picky.

SO,  I plan to show my favorite gowns from recent-ish Oscar ceremonies. And we're off!

Cate Blanchett. The woman is simply incapable of making a bad choice.  Enough said.

Jennifer Lopez. Jennifer looks very nicely put together every time. That being said, I particularly enjoyed this Jackie O. inspired look. It wasn't something everybody else was doing. She wasn't following a trend. She was having fun being a little unique. Je l'adore.

Uma Thurman.  I'm sorry I don't know who designed this beauty but it is just so perfect for Uma.  She looked like a goddess this year.

Charlize Theron.  I remember this dress very clearly because at the time Charlize Theron was not the famous Oscar-winner she is today.  She stole the show in this dress.  I worshipped it. Classic glamour in a beautiful hue with the perfect hair.  Sexy, glamorous, vintage inspired and Flawless.

Maggie Gyllenhaal.  I'm fond of Maggie's style as she seems to always look unique, but never to the point of lacking common sense in concerns to what is flattering.  This dress is modern and classic simultaneously and it suits her wonderfully.

Julie Delpy.  I confess that the first time I saw a picture of this lovely dress was on the internet.  I know of Julie Delpy because I like "Before Sunrise" and "Before Sunset", but she doesn't have Julia Roberts status in Hollywood, so I probably didn't see her on television this year.  Anyway, the dress is so well-suited to her.  She doesn't look like she's trying too hard. Simple, elegant and beautiful.

Marion Cotillard.  The "fashion people" on television kept whining about how Marion's dress reminded them of fish, but I disagreed wholeheartedly.  I thought the dress was gorgeously designed, fit her nicely and existed in the mermaid category, pas poisson!   Again, I liked that she didn't look the same as anyone else that night.  Bravo.

Keri Russell.  Good Lord, the dress is stunning.  The woman in it has hopefully begun eating since this photo was taken, but even so, she looks gorgeous. 

Michelle Williams. By far my biggest Oscars fashion infatuation in recent years. I loved Michelle walking down the red carpet in this. She looked perfect and I wished I was her.  Zut afreakinglors.